UNASSISTED PREGNANCY: EVERY WOMAN IS HER OWN BEST CAREGIVER

Prepare to be amazed: I had an unassisted conception. My husband and I closed the bedroom door, took off our clothes, and conceived a child without any help from anyone! David got an erection without drugs of any sort, and actually proceeded to impregnate me without consulting a manual.

Even more amazing is that I didn't have a conception coach! No one stood next to the bed shouting "Push! Push! Pant! Pant!" Somehow, I just knew what to do!

Are you shocked? Are you impressed? Probably not. This is because the majority of babies in the world have been safely conceived this way throughout all of eternity. So why are you amazed when I say that I also had an unassisted pregnancy and birth?

"Well," you say, "because conception is easy, but pregnancy and birth are not." I beg to differ. Pregnancy is a natural, healthy condition. It is not a disease. If a woman is physically and psychologically healthy, there is absolutely no need to measure her tummy, test her urine, or check her blood. Needles hurt because skin is not designed to be punctured.

Even if a woman isn't healthy, does she really need a "professional" to inform her of the fact? Are women totally incapable of determining the state of their own health? And suppose they aren't healthy. Can a "professional" actually make them well? Perhaps if they believe in the professional more than they believe in themselves. I believe I am my own best caregiver. I have much more faith in my own abilities than I've ever had in any doctor or midwife.

All of my pregnancies have been unassisted - i.e. free from prenatal care. I ate well, got lots of fresh air and exercise, and birthed my babies whenever they decided they wanted to be born. Other than with my first one, I never knew when I was due. Nor did I know what position they were in. Consequently, I never tried to turn them into the "correct" position - in spite of the fact that according to the books, three of my babies were born "wrong." John was a face presentation, Willie was a footling breech, and Joy was posterior. Were my births problematic? Not at all.

The fact is there is a loving, intelligent consciousness that is behind and within all life. This consciousness knows how to grow a tiny seed into a living, breathing human being. It does not need to be "helped along" by a man or woman with "credentials." All this consciousness asks is that we trust it, and trust ourselves. Every woman is her own best caregiver if only she will believe it.

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Photo copyright David Glover.

MEET Laura Shanley

Since we did not live in poverty, did not choose to invite medical professionals to our births, and had worked with ourselves to eliminate fear and other potentially destructive emotions, we knew that unassisted childbirth was the safest way for us to give birth.

Unassisted Childbirth

In an unassisted childbirth no one acts as a midwife. Instead, the birthing woman herself determines the course of her labor. Partners or friends may participate to varying degrees, but no one instructs the woman as to how to give birth, when to push, what position to be in, etc.